Expanding, hardening, and placing apparatus for preformed pipe

ABSTRACT

One or a group of separably connected trucks are advanced by a speed regulated prime mover and support in sequence a roll of a soft curable organic polymeric conduit or trough in a compact lie flat condition, a device for extending the advancing conduit to an expanded state, an arrangement for heating or otherwise treating the expanded tube or trough to effect the hardening of the advancing article and guide means for leading the at least partially hardened expanded article from the trailing end of the apparatus in synchronism with the apparatus advance. The heating and curing or the expanded tube is effected by passing the expanded tube through chambers where it is sprayed with hot liquids which are recirculated through a heating unit.

United States Patent 1 1 [111 3,876,351 Takada 1 Apr. 8, 1975 1 1EXPANDING, HARDENING. AND PLACING 2.779,.388 1/1957 Quoss 425/341vAPPARATUS FOR PREFORMED PIPE 3.284.849 l 1/1966 Coleman et al 425/384[75] lnventor: Takezo Takada, Hikone, Japan [73] Assignee: Takata KojyoCo., Ltd., Tokyo,

.Japan [22] Filed: Sept. 27, 1972 [211 App]. No: 292,582

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No.206.006. Dec, 8.

1971, abandoned.

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 30, 1971 Japan 46-07588)Dec. 14, 1970 Japan 45-110474 [521 US. Cl. 425/62; 425/71; 425/86;425/393; 425/445 [51] Int. Cl. B29g 7/00 8] Field of Search, 425/62.174, 71, 90, 383-384. 425/392-1593. 397, 403-404, 104, 112. 340. 343

156] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,718,684 9/1955 Bjorksten425/62 Primary E.runtiner-Francis S. Husar AssistantE.\'(IIII1III--J0hll McQuade Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wo1der & Gross[57] ABSTRACT One or a group of separably connected trucks are advancedby a speed regulated prime mover and support in sequence a roll of asoft curable organic polymeric conduit or trough in a compact lie flatcondition, a device for extending the advancing conduit to an expandedstate. an arrangement for heating or otherwise treating the expandedtube or trough to effect the hardening of the advancing article andguide means for leading the at least partially hardened expanded articlefrom the trailing end of the apparatus in synchronism with the apparatusadvance. The heating and curing or the expanded tube is effected bypassing the expanded tube through chambers where it is sprayed with hotliquids which are recirculated through a heating unit.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEBAPR 81975 $876,351

PATENTEUAPR ems 3; 876 .351

saw 2 0f 2 EXPANDING, HARDENING. AND PLACING APPARATUS FOR PREFORMEDPIPE REFERENCE TO OTHER APPLICATIONS This application is acontinuation-in-part of US. pa tent application Ser. No. 206.006 filedDec. 8. 197] now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally tothe improvement in the laying of a large conduit trough or other articleand it relates particularly to an improved method and apparatus for theautomatic expansion and hardening of conduit and the laying of theconduit in a continuous manner.

The use of large diameter rigid conduit is a very common expedient andis applied to such situations as the drainage of sewage and water,irrigation. the distribution of water and the like. The conventionalprocedure for producing and laying and burying such pipe or troughpossess numerous drawbacks and disadvantages. The conduits are usuallyprecast in a rigid state in relatively short lengths and these are thentransported to the desired site laid and joined end to end in trenchesand are then covered. It is apparent that the above procedure isexpensive and highly time consuming and otherwise leaves much to bedesired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a principal object of the presentinvention to pro vide an improved conduit or trough forming and handlingapparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedapparatus for the continuous laying of large diameter conduit of verylong lengths.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedapparatus for storing large conduit in a compact state and expanding andhardening the conduit attendant to the laying thereof.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus ofthe above nature characterized by its reliability. ruggedness. and highversatility and adaptability.

The above and other objects of the present invention will becomeapparent from a reading of the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferredembodiment thereof.

In a sense the present invention contemplates the provision of a pipelaying apparatus comprising a vehicle. a storage of a hardenable layflat conduit trough or other long article mounted on said vehicle. meansfor extending article from said storage to afully expanded state. meansfor advancing the article with the advance of said vehicle anddischarging it at the trailing end of said vehicle. and means forhardening said conduit during its advance along said vehicle.

The apparatus in its preferred form includes one or a plurality oftrucks coupled end to end at least one of the trucks being self driven.The lay flat pipe is formed ofa hardenable. synthetic polymeric resin'orother material for example one having a heat actuated cross linkingcatalyst. and is wound in its lay flat condition on a reel rotatablysupported on the leading truck. The next truck supports a liquid furnaceheat exchange unit, a circulating pump and a truck propelling motor suchas a diesel engine. the next truck supports a pair of longitudinallyspaced spheres within the expanded conduit and limited againstlongitudinal movement by -an external toroid between the spheres. Theexpanded tube while maintained in its expanded state advances throughsuccessive chambers where it is sprayed with hot liquid or other fluidwhich is recirculated through the heater and the thus hardened and curedtube passes over roller guides into a preformed ditch wherein it assumesits final rigid state.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an elevational view of anapparatus embodying the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. I of another embodiment thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. I of thedrawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention the forming and hardening equipment has a wagon referred to bythe numeral 1 provided with wheels 2 on which are arranged a reel, afeeder device 4, an expanding device 5, and a hardening and formingmechanism 9.

The reel is provided with flanges on both sides of the winding axle. anda roll 3 of a soft tubular body hardenable by after treatment is woundon the reel in a flat form. The feeder device is for feeding a flatlyformed body and provided with magnetic force for fixing the expandingdevice 5. The expanding device 5 is for expanding the flat soft tubularbody and possesses magnetism. The expanding device 5 is provided with ashaft 7 extending backwards and with forming devices 8 and 8 immediatelybehind the expanding device and at the outlet of the hardening andforming mechanism described later, thereby maintaining the form ofrunning tubular body in a desired shape. Following the expanding deviceis arranged the hardening mechanism 9 for hardening the soft tubularbody, which contains a spraying mechanism 9' and receiving container 9"for spraying medium such as oil. water, or hot blast and hardens thesoft tubular body possessed of a potentially hardenable nature bycirculating medium for spraying with the aid of laid pipe 10, a fluidtransferring device 11 and a medium container 1.2. The fluidtransferring device 11 is for returning medium having finished hardeningoperation and has sufficient delivery pressure to develop pressurenecessary for making effective the spraying of medium. The mediumcontainer 12 has a medium supply inlet and a device for controllingarbitrarily the temperature of medium as circumstances demand.

The potentially hardenable soft body does harden due to quantitative orqualitative change of the contained pllasticizer. and hardening byreducing a certain amount of plasticizer by oil and the like is mosteasy. In another case. it is possible that thermosetting plasticizer iscontained and hardening is effected by heating.

The properly effected tubular body, after fully hardened, is laid in thetrench behind the wagon l by way of rollers 15 which are provided forproper sliding. It should be noted that the aforesaid mechanism, ofcourse, can be designed properly unless the object of this invention istransgressed and such modifications are included in the claim of thepresent invention.

When hard pipe is laid underground employing the equipment of thepresent invention explained above, a trench is first excavated by atrencher, and subse quently a wound soft body is unwound from the reeland expanded by the expanding device, then passed through the hardeningmechanism 9 for hardening, and finally laid in the trench after runningon roller portion 15, being afterward covered with soil and buried. Thetemperature of medium sprayed by the hardening mechanism is selectedproperly depending upon the composition and desired hardness of the softbody to be formed and hardened, but usually maintained at a temperaturefrom 160 to 200C. The feeding rate of soft body is selected depending onthe residence time in the hardening mechanism 9 necessary for developinga desired hardness.

It is a convenience that soil covering operation is conductedsimultaneously in case a soil covering mechanism is provided in therearmost portion of the wagon 1.

The present invention is usable not only for underground laying of atubular body but for laying a trough in the trench while it is hardened.

The soft body wound on the reel in the present invention contains partof thermosetting plasticizer or a plasticizer removable by oil, etc;,and has a nature to harden as the result. The soft body can be wound onthe reel at the beginning under usual condition by flattening it as ithas flexibility like conventional soft body. This soft body is very longand can extend to a length from about 70 to about 300 meters.

According to the present invention, as described above, soft and longtubular product is wound on a reel as it is soft. loaded on a formingand hardening wagon, unwound from the reel by the feeding device 4 whilebeing gradually hardened, and then laid underground and buried as hardtubular body. Consequently, there is found no such trouble as seen intransportation of hard tubular product encountered in the conventionalexecution of pipe laying. Contrary to the conventional execution inwhich transportation is limited to short pipes of a certain prescribedlength, the present invention permits the transporting of long tubularproducts, eliminating such disadvantages and providing an advantageousfeature. Further, labor and time for joining pipes are saved in theunderground laying and burying, thereby elevating the efficiency ofunderground pipe laying. The hardening treatment is conductedsuccessively following the trenching work, and the pipe laying andburying immediately after excavating the trench are made possibleaccording to the present invention, thereby markedly reducing theworking time to the minimum, not only improving the efficiency ofexecuting work but also contributing a great deal to the rationalizationof underground laying work since the excavated trench is not left as itis dug. There is still another advantage that the hardening equipmentaccording to the present invention is mounted on a freely movable wagonso that it is easily operated wherever it is needed. It is a greatconvenience for completing work that man power is scarcely needed andlabor is saved.

Referring now to FIG. 2 the drawings which illustrates anotherembodiment of the present invention, the reference numeral 54 generallydesignates a leading wheel mounted truck or carriage which supports apair of transversely spaced upright brackets having a spindle shaft 52journalled thereto. Wound on the spindle shaft 52 is a compact spool ofrelatively soft conduit 51 which is in a lay flat condition, it beingnoted that conduit 51 may be a trough or other article. The conduit 51is of the type which hardens to a rigid state upon being heated andadvantageously is formed of a synthetic organic polymeric resin having aheat actuatable cross linking agent thermosetting initiator or catalystas described in detail. for example in co-pending patent applicationSer. No. 181,146 filed Sept. 16, 1971 now abandoned and Ser. No.205,278, filed Dec. 6, 1971, or may be formed of any other suitable softhardenable material.

A second carriage 65 is coupled to carriage 54 and supports a primemover, for example, a diesel enginewhich is coupled by way of anadjustable speed transmission 67 to the traction wheels 67 of carriage65. Also mounted on carriage 65 is a heat exchange furnace or otherheating unit 63 the inlet to which is fed by a pump 62.

A conduit expansion unit 71 is mounted on the next carriage 72 which iscoupled to the carriage 65 and includes a chamber having longitudinallyaligned leading inlet and trailing outlet openings, the collapsedconduit entering the inlet opening and being guided by a pair ofvertically spaced rolls and leaving through the outlet opening. A pairof longitudinally spaced conduit expanding toroids or spheres 74 aredisposed in the advancing conduit forward of the guide rolls and areinterconnected by a longitudinal bar. The spheres 74 are maintained inposition by a suitably mounted toroid 73 surrounding the expandedconduit 1 between spheres 74 and having an inside diameter slightly lessthan the outside diameters of spheres 24.

On the following two carriages 84 and 84' which are intercoupled andcoupled to carriage 72 are treating or curing tanks 81 and 81respectively the tanks having longitudinally aligned openings 87, 87through which the expanded conduit advances. Located at the top interiorof tanks 81, 81' are perforated drip pans and 85 respectively which areconnected by pipes 61 and 61 and associated tubing to the outlet of theliquid heating unit 63. The bottoms of tanks 81, 81' are connected bypipes 88 and 88 and associated piping to the inlet of pump 62 where theeffluent water or liquid from tanks 81 and 81' is recirculated throughheat unit 63 back to the drip pans 85 and 85'. A suitably supported rod82 extends from sphere 24 coaxially through expanded conduit 61 in tanks81 and 81' and is provided with longitudinally spaced circular formingunits 83.

Extending downwardly and rearwardly from the bottom edge of trailingtank opening 87' is a suitably supported guide member 92 provided alongits top with freely rotatable guide rolls. The side wall of the hardenedor cured conduit 91 as it traverses the guide 92 is engaged by a sensingunit 93 for detecting the hardness, temperature or other parameter ofconduit 91 and controls, through any suitable inverse feedback network,one of the operating parameters such as the advancing speed of theapparatus as affected by the drive assembly 64 and 67, or thetemperature of the treating liquid as controlled by heater unit 63 orthe speed of pump 62 or the like.

In the normal operation of the apparatus described above the softflexible conduit 51 is withdrawn from the reel with the advance of theapparatus by drive 64,

67 and as the soft conduit traverses the expansion unit 71 it isextended to its fully expanded circular cross section by the internalspheres 74.

The soft expanded conduit then traverses tanks 81 and 81' where it isheated by the hot liquid for example a hydrocarbonol, falling thereonfrom drip pans 85 and 85' to a temperature to effect the curing andhardening of the conduit 51 due to the activating of the cross linkingagent or catalyst or in any other manner as described above. The atleast partially hardened conduit is directed by guide member 92 into apreformed trench where it assumes its final shape and position andbecause of the latent heat therein continues to harden to its finalrigid state. By adjusting the sensitivity of sensor 93 and its controlparameters as related to the composition of the conduit its interim andfinal rigidity properties may be controlled.

In a specific example of the present process the apparatus was advancedat mhr and the soft conduit had an inside diameter of 200 mm. a wallthickness of 3.5 mm and a length of 100 meters and a hardness of 20C ofshore D-250. The advancing expanded pipe was treated with a hydrocarbonoil at 170C and the hardness of the final rigid conduit at 20C was shoreD 82.

While there have been described and illustrated preferred embodiments ofthe present invention, it is apparent that numerous alterations,omissions and addi tions may be made without departing from the spiritthereof. For example an automatic trench digger may be coupled carriage84 so that the trench in which the conduit is laid is automatically dugwith the propulsion of the apparatus and the handling and laying of theconduit.

I claim:

1. A pipe laying apparatus comprising a vehicle, means mounted on saidvehicle for storing in a compact longitudinally withdrawable condition astorage of a lay flat conduit formed of a heat hardenable polymericresin composition, means on said vehicle for extending conduit from saidstorage to a fully expanded state, means for rearwardly advancing saidexpanded conduit with the advance of said vehicle and discharging it insitu, at the trailing end of said vehicle, said extending meansincluding a freely mounted expanding form positioned to be within saidadvancing conduit, means for restricting the longitudinal rearwardadvance of said form, and means on said vehicle for heating saidexpanded conduit whereby to effect its hardening during its rearwardadvance along said vehicle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said heating means comprises achamber through which said expanded conduit advances, a plurality ofnozzles directing a stream of hot fluid onto said advancing conduit.

a heating device and means for recirculating the effluent fluid throughsaid heating device back to said nozzles.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 including a prime mover for advancing saidvehicle.

4; The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said storing means comprises a reelmounted on said vehicle. said lay flat conduit being wound on said reel.

1. A pipe laying apparatus comprising a vehicle, means mounted on saidvehicle for storing in a compact longitudinally withdrawable condition astorage of a lay flat conduit formed of a heat hardenable polymericresin composition, means on said vehicle for extending conduit from saidstorage to a fully expanded state, means for rearwardly advancing saidexpanded conduit with the advance of said vehicle and discharging it insitu, at the trailing end of said vehicle, said extending meansincluding a freely mounted expanding form positioned to be within saidadvancing conduit, means for restricting the longitudinal rearwardadvance of said form, and means on said vehicle for heating saidexpanded conduit whereby to effect its hardening during its rearwardadvance along said vehicle.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein saidheating means comprises a chamber through which said expanded conduitadvances, a plurality of nozzles directing a stream of hot fluid ontosaid advancing conduit, a heating device and means for recirculating theeffluent fluid through said heating device back to said nozzles.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1 including a prime mover for advancing said vehicle.4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said storing means comprises a reelmounted on said vehicle, said lay flat conduit being wound on said reel.